By whistler
Published: 30 December, 2003
Introduction
I acquired this P90 from David "inferno" Jones by way of trade. In exchange for my M4, I received this one of-a-kind work of art. The master modder has since turned my M4 into a one of-a-kind "M4k", which is quite stunning.
When most people look at the P90, they see a strictly CQB weapon. However, it should be pointed out that while the P90 excels indoors, it also shows commanding performance in a woodland environment. Its bullpup design gives it an inner barrel on par with the M4, insuring accurate fire at longer ranges despite its size.
This is a review of the Inferno GmbH P90. It will cover the performance of the Tokyo Marui P90, and will include information on the nature and quality of infernoˇ¦s custom work. So, on that note, let us begin!
First Impressions
When the brown-wrapped box arrived from Hawaii to my front door, I knew my new treasure was here. I tore open the package, cut the tape, and lifted the cover of the box. There it was, in all its glory.
The first thing I noticed was the paint. The shade of green gives a nice contrast with the black upper receiver, but retains a military feel. The paint is very well done: smooth and even. The only flaw in the paint is where the putty was removed from the trademarks on the lower receiver. I believe the surface of the gun was slightly damaged, making the paint a bit off texture. However, this is really a small gripe, requiring you to look at the spot in question close up to notice.
The P90 is rather sparse on trademarks and major details, just like the real-steel. The upper receiver bares a serial number, as well as caliber specifications. The lower receiver has 'Model PROJECT 90 Cal 5.7x28 SS90' across the left side, but is lacking in other trademarks. I got a good laugh when I read "RESTRICTED LAW ENFORCEMENT/GOVERNMENT USE ONLY" along the side of the magazine, a truly outstanding touch.
The magazine clamp was next to catch my eye. This home made clamp system is quite ingenious, utilizing a screw on the back to mount the apparatus onto the P90's side rail, and a spring to keep the magazine in place. But, more on the magazine clamp later.
As I picked the P90 out of its molded foam home, I noticed just how small it is. At 20 inches, the P90 is the smallest AEG I have ever held. The P90 is also on the light side, but with a battery and loaded magazine, this little submachine gun feels just right. The P90's grip scheme is a bit odd: your trigger finger shares what looks at first like a small space with your opposite thumb.
Not everyone will like this grip scheme, simply because your hands are very close together. However, I have grown to like this setup, and find it to be a very stable position for my hands. The fire selector is conveniently at your trigger finger, making it possible to change mode of fire and properly hold the gun at eye level.
The P90 is fed ammunition through a top mounted, transparent magazine containing fake bullets. The magazine has a generous 68 round capacity and makes no noise when shaken. While the fake bullets are fairly realistic when looked down upon, you can easily tell that the 'bullets' are just a large chunk of plastic. Again, a minor flaw, but something you will notice. The magazine release, like everything on the P90, is ambidextrous. This insures that all you south-paws out there can reload your P90 with ease.
Finally, there is the red dot site. This nifty addition is powered by a pair of AAA batteries and has two power settings for day and night fighting, as well as backup iron sights on either side of the scope. Inferno's P90 includes a cheek rest, which makes using the P90's close-to-body sights easier.
Aiming
Before I brought the gun up to eye level, I made sure to turn on the red dot sight. The switch for the site is on the underside of the upper receiver, between the magazine and the sight. I happen to have long, skinny fingers, so I was able to turn the dot on and off without removing the magazine. For those of you with husky fingers, you will need to make sure you have the proper brightness setting for the sight before heading out to shoot, as it will be difficult to adjust the sight with the magazine in the gun.
With no bb's loaded, and no battery in the gun, I brought the P90 up to my shoulder. This is really the only thing about the P90 that gives me problems, for two reasons: 1. I have fused vertebra in my neck, meaning that its hard to keep my head in a comfortable position while looking into the red dot. 2. At 6'3, I have a lot of neck to get down to look trough the red dot in the first place. Well, when I finally managed to get my cheek down on the cheek rest, I clearly saw the red dot. After moving my head a little to the left, I checked the iron sites.
Next, I turned the safety to the red number '1' with my trigger finger. The trigger pull was very smooth and deep. When I turned the selector to the red 'A', I pulled the trigger again, and was given a deeper pull, as well as a satisfying click when I hit the trigger's limit.
Loading
Alright, enough trigger pulling... its time to shoot this bad boy! But, before we can have fun, we need to load up and see how easy it is to prepare the P90 for a fight.
I took out the bag of Excel .2g bb's and what I call the "musket loader" tool and removed the magazine from the P90. After I had loaded the magazine, I pushed it down the top of the gun, into the little "cave" the P90's upper receiver creates at the front of the frame. I was surprised at how easily the magazine slid into place, considering the difficulitys I had read about on the internet. The only slight obstacle I had was the magazine release, which should be pulled back to let the magazine get into position.
Next, I took the mini battery out of the box and slid the butt plate off the gun. I was rather surprised to see that the inner walls of the gun were covered with large pieces of foam.
This internal modification would no doubt make the gun less noisy when firing, and was ecstatic to see the quality of the packing job. The foam wraps around the guns internals, absorbing the vibrations they produce. I decided to check out the foam throughout the gun. I removed the magazine to reveal the quick take-down mechanism. The way the receivers connect makes it very easy to remove the upper and expose the internals.
When I installed the battery, I saw that there is a small compartment in the upper part of the receiver for the battery. I slipped the mini into the small space, and struggled a bit with the cables to allow the butt plate to close the gun back up. Now, with that out of the way, its off to the firing range!
Basic testing
Since I live in Plano, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) I don't have woodlands near by to test my gun out. So, I had to test my sights out on various cereal boxes I put throughout my yard. I set them at various heights and distances, and put the P90 into single shot for the accuracy test.
My first order of business was to test the hop-up settings and the accuracy of the red dot. The door that covers the hop-up is on the underside of the lower receiver, where your hands grip the trigger assembly. This just gives me another chance to rave about inferno's outstanding paint job: the under part of the receiver is perfectly painted, and the door slides perfectly, even though it is painted as well. I can only imagine how much time and effort went into the paint.
Now, back to the trials. The boxes were about 50 feet away at maximum distance. There was no wind in my yard, so shots would stay true. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera at the time of shooting, but I can say that the P90 has outstanding accuracy. As it turns out, the red dot was in near perfect alignment, and the hop up was fine after some minor adjustments. I would say that this P90 (which is un-upgraded internally) shoots around 290-300 FPS with .2g bbs, and can easily punch through one side of a box of Frosted Mini Wheats, and still carry enough velocity to put a major dent in the other side.
I have used many AEGs, and I can say that the Inferno GmbH, with its foam lined internal structure, is the quietest gun I have ever used. Not only is it quieter when shooting, but I also found it to be quieter than my old M4 when running with it. The internals dont rattle, and magazine keep the bb's quiet when on the move.
Gear
By far, the biggest hurdle owning a P90 presents is getting gear to hold it and its awkwardly shaped magazines. It took many hours of trial and error and a few minor modifications to allow my generic 3-point sling to work with the P90. Blackhawk makes sling mounts for the P90 that allow you to support both the barrel and the stock. However, I wanted to see if I could solve the problem before spending any more money. Let me say, it is possible to rig your 3-point sling through that sling port near the butt plate. It takes a bit of work, but in the end, the P90 will hang by your hip nicely.
The P90 uses a long magazine, approximately 11inches. Most tactical vests will not fit these oddly shaped magazines. So, what do you do if you cant use a tactical vest? Well, I went to my army/navy store to see if I could find an answer, which was actually rather simple.
This is an Army issue AR15/M16 bipod pouch. They can be found at army stores for around $10. Not only are they the perfect fit for the P90's long magazines, but they also have a small zipper pouch to hold extra mini batteries. In addition, they attach easily to your web belt.
Custom work
Throughout this review, I have commented on inferno's custom work. However, I would like to dedicate this section of the review to this guns astonishing customization.
First, lets start with the most obvious custom feature: the paint. The P90's lower receiver has multiple coats of forest green paint. There are no thin spots on the gun, and every square millimeter of the lower receiver has been covered. The paint also provides a bit of extra texture and grip, as well as an ultra cool "special" type look.
While inferno had not upgraded the internals of the P90, he did install foam inside the entire lower and upper receivers to eliminate noise. Not only has the foam job been well done, but it actually works too! Don't get me wrong, this gun isn't silent, but it is most certainly quiet.
Finally, there is the magazine clamp. Its hard to say I was disappointed in this device, because after all, there is nothing else like it. But, to be blunt, the clamp is hard to use. It can be quite difficult to release the magazine when the clamp is in your hands, much less when it is on the side of the gun. But, if you can master its operation, I bet it will be a valuable tool.
Conclusion
The Inferno GmbH P90 is an excellent, one of a kind AEG. It combines the performance of a Tokyo Marui AEG with the beautiful artistry of ASR's favorite mad airsoft doctor. The P90 is equally at home in the confines of CQB (Close Quarter Battle) and the more wide-open spaces of woodland fighting. I very strongly recommend it to any airsofter who wants to simultaneously break away from the crowd, and then pelt the crowd with quiet hail of bb's.
In my opinion, if you plan on getting a Tokyo Marui Project 90, you should send it down to Hawaii for some one of a kind upgrades via Inferno GmbH. You can be assured of a quality job that will not disappoint.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Excellent, one of a kind work. Can't beat the quality.
- Internally, it's a stock TM P90, meaning it is a great performer that will be very reliable.
- Comes with a red dot and cool looking magazine with great capacity.
- The foam job makes it much quieter than your average AEG.
- Extra parts, including a custom magazine clamp and cheek rest.
- High capacity magazines only need to be wound up once.
Cons:
- Can be hard to use the red dot sight if you wear a paintball mask or are tall.
- Grip scheme might be uncomfortable for some.
- It might be too small for peoples liking.
inferno and His Work
Hopefully, this review has peeked your curiosity regarding Mr. Jones and his outstanding work. So, I asked him to contribute some technical and personal information to the review:
"David Jones ( evilcuttlefish@yahoo.com ), founder of Inferno GmbH, is located in Honolulu, Hawaii... 'I have been modding all sorts of replica guns since 1991, but it was in 1994 that the name "Inferno GmbH" was created so I'd have a label for my products.' Prior to airsoft products, Inferno GmbH churned out home-made shoulder-fired model rockets and rocket-powered Styrofoam gliders capable of carrying a wide array of "payloads" for "scientific purposes". Custom airsoft work primarily deals with the Marui AK47 and Benelli line, but I have modded everything from P90's to MP5 K's to the FA-MAS. I don't carry nor install airsoft parts; my work is more for those who want something that isn't currently available to buy-- like the chopped FA-MAS, Thompson AEG drum magazine, or folding-stock Benelli. I also do repair jobs for the Marui Benelli, and am available via e-mail for pretty much any airsoft problem-solving questions-- and never a consultation fee!"
"The P90: I bought this gun with the battery practically new-in-box for $180-- I never seriously thought about buying one before, but the price made her too good of an offer to pass up. I was pretty surprised with how quiet the gun was, compared to other AEG's, and decided that the placement of the mechabox and barrel length would make her an ideal candidate for a suppressed AEG project. The first thing I did was paint the gun green-- not only would this help her blend in with the surrounding foliage, but the extra coat of paint would cut down on some noise. Then I crammed foam into all areas possible-- around the mechabox to absorb noise and vibration, in all hollow spaces to cut down on resonance, etc. The design of the flash suppressor was such that it didn't really amplify the muzzle report, so no suppressor was needed. A layer of dense closed-cell foam was double-sided taped to the rear to serve as a cheek rest-- in addition, it prevents the gun from getting scratched by facemasks and also absorbs a little sound. I bought a hi-cap magazine for her and decided hat I should figure out a way to carry the standard on the side. Using a cut scope mount and some scrap metal, I made a magazine clamp that bolts right on to the receiver rail. I was going to mod this gun even further by replacing the grip with that from an MP5 for a more comfortable grip angle, but I traded it for whistler's M4 before the job could be done."
"So, could this be done to any P90, or any other AEG for that matter? Of course! When people come to me with their ideas for a suppressed AEG, I take several things into consideration: First of all, barrel length. Guns like the MP5 K & PDW have very short barrels, which translates to a louder muzzle report. Also, since the BB is in the barrel for such a short time, the piston slams into the cylinder head just a little bit harder than on a full-sized AEG. For this reason, they aren't good candidates for suppressed AEG jobs. Second is how much space is available for foam padding around the mechabox. The P90 and Steyr AUG are great examples. If the area around the mechabox and motor can be painted or built up on somehow, then that's even better; my AK, for example, shoots 395/.20's rather quietly without a suppressor, partially due to the amount of epoxy around the motor casing that was used to form-fit the grip to my hand. Finally, there's the coating. If I had coated Whistler's P90 with a spray-on non-slip hard rubber coating, she'd be even quieter . So, if you have any suppression questions or suggestions, feel free to e-mail me and I'll be glad to point you in the right direction."
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